Jack was taking a short break from doing the paperwork on the Highbourgh case when he heard the station's door open and loud voices. A moment later, Collins knocked on the door.
"Sir, Miss Ross and Bert are here insisting to speak with you," Collins informed, although Jack recognized Mr. Johnson's voice the moment he heard it. Jack nodded and exited his office.
"Oi! Miss Fisher's wantin' ya at the fairgrounds. She's havin' me and Cec take Jane and Ruth home after their scare. It doesn't look good. Miss Fisher was covered in blood," Bert grunted.
Jack immediately knew something was wrong if Phryne was covered in blood. Jack nodded and looked to see Jane sitting on the bench rather quiet. She usually greeted Jack with a smile and a hug, but today she was quiet. He sat next to her on the bench and before Jack could say a word, Jane flung her arms around him as she started to shake and cry in his arms. Just like her mother, thought Jack, silently chuckling.
"Jane, what happened? Is your mother alright?" he spoke softly to her.
"Mum's alright but covered in some man's blood. We were at…the fairgrounds…Mum was meeting some jockey while Ruth, Dot and I were enjoying ourselves. We were meeting up and suddenly there was screaming and mum was telling Ruth and me to find some clean towels. There was so much blood," Jane whimpered into his coat.
"It'll be alright Jane. Where's Ruth?" Jack comforted.
"Cec is with her in the taxi. She shouldn't be seeing it any more than I should. She's way too young to be seeing all that blood," Jane informed.
"Bert, take Jane and Ruth home and then make sure they get something to eat. Collins, we're apparently going to answer Miss Fisher's summons to the fairgrounds. I'll drive." Jack passed Jane off to Bert, who almost had to carry her back to the taxi. He reached back into his office and grabbed his hat and coat before heading out to the police motorcar.
/
Jack pulled into the fairground motorcar park where he caught sight of the ambulance and other police vehicles. He and Collins walked through until they found the crime scene. Jack desperately searched for a dark-haired bob amongst the constables and finally found her sitting on the ground quite a bit away from the body covered by a white sheet. He could see Miss Williams trying to stay composed, but the moment she caught sight of Collins, she broke into tears. Collins looked to Jack for permission, which the latter gave with a slight nod. Collins went to his fiancée (I learned that fiancé refers to the male and fiancée refers to the female. Interesting.) and enveloped her in his arms. Jack smiled bleakly at the comfort Collins gave Miss Williams and wished he could offer the same to her employer.
Phryne sat with her hands resting on her knees and Jack took in that she was covered in blood. She hadn't even washed her hands of the blood that had soaked her discarded gloves beside her. Jack crouched down and looked into the distant eyes of a weary woman.
"Phryne? Phryne?" Jack spoke softly, trying to get Phryne's attention, but when she didn't respond, he gently put his hand on her cheek and lifted her face towards his, "Phryne, are you alright?"
Phryne slowly returned to the land of the living and acknowledged Jack's presence. "Oh, Jack. I tried to stop the bleeding, truly I did," Phryne whimpered before letting her face fall from his hand. Jack shifted and leaned up against the stall next to Phryne and wrapped a comforting arm around her. She leaned into him before letting a few tears escape.
"I should be alright now that you're here. I felt as if I were back in France during the war, Jack. It was awful."
"Have you given a statement to the constables? I was sure you would've been released or at least been allowed to wash the blood off, "Jack stated as he stood before helping Miss Fisher to her feet.
"Constable Douglas wouldn't allow me to; although I had half a mind to wash it off anyway. Apparently, he's by-the-book and wouldn't allow me to wash a dead man's blood off my skin until his superiors gave their consent for me to do so," Phryne growled lowly.
"If Constable Collins can delicately take yours and Miss Williams' statements, I see no issue with you being released from the scene. Now, I know you, Miss Fisher, that you would rather stay here and help sniff out the person who did this; but I know of two young, impressionable young ladies who call you, Mother, who are quite shaken from this and could probably do with some company. I promise to drop by after dinner to take their statements as well as to look in on the state of their mother, if she'll let me," Jack smirked, looking into a pair of searching eyes. His eyes left their penetrating stare only to find the owner's lips rather full and quite tempting. Even now, she tempts me to do the dishonorable. How does she do it? Jack pondered before leaving Miss Fisher and Miss Williams in the care of Constable Collins.
Jack just had to get away from Miss Fisher before he disregarded the fact that he was at a crime scene. Jack couldn't help but glance back at Phryne and take in her dress that hung quite low in the front and her legs which were very much exposed, making him feel an arousal he didn't think possible. Jack was able to stop thinking about Miss Fisher when he heard Constable Douglas interrupt his thoughts,
"Sir? Inspector?"
"Sorry, Constable Douglas. Do we know who the victim is?" Jack turned so he wouldn't have to continue looking at Miss Fisher's attractive figure.
"Yes, sir. According to Miss Fisher and the victim's wife, our victim is Stephen Callahan. He's 35 and is currently a veterinarian," Constable Douglas fought to keep Jack's attention.
Jack walked over to the body which was covered by a sheet, lifting it to observe the wound to the victim's abdomen.
"Make sure the scene is documented and then the coroners can come take the body. I don't think it would be good to keep it here for much longer," Jack delegated, looking around the crime scene before letting his eyes fully envelope Miss Fisher's image.
"I had just left the stables after running into an old acquaintance from my childhood. I was slowly making my way towards the Ferris wheel to meet up with the girls as we'd planned. As I was rounding the corner at the of that stall," Phryne indicated the one catercorner to them, "a large, burly man barreled into me. I was about to yell something obscene at him when a scream pierced my ears. I pushed through the crowd to find Dot and the girls staring, pale-faced at something."
"It was then I noticed a woman crying over a man who was clutching his stomach. Upon closer inspection, I found the man was bleeding and having been a nurse during the war, my training immediately took over and I applied pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding. I sent Dot to find a constable and the girls to find towels. I tried to keep Mr. Callahan awake and alert, but within minutes of being stabbed, he bled out. I had Dot fetch Bert and Cec from the box so they could take the girls home and stop by to request your attendance."
Hugh finished taking notes of her statement before turning to his fiancée¸ who was still struggling to catch her breath.
"Thank you, Miss Fisher. Now, Dot…uh, Miss Williams, can you recall the events as you best remember them?" Hugh softly prodded, acknowledging Dot's difficulty.
Taking a deep breath, Dot recalled. "Ruth, Jane and I were waiting for Miss Fisher to join us before we went on the Ferris wheel. Everything was lovely until that horrible scream filled the air. There were so many people standing about it was difficult to see exactly what happened. When everyone backed away, we saw a man bleeding from his stomach and then Miss Fisher showed up and sent me to find a constable…," Dot paused to take a breath. "When I returned with the constables, they were quick to tell Miss Fisher the police could handle it, but Miss Fisher said something about the man bleeding out and they let her be. I watched as the man's breath left him and then a constable knelt by the man's body and shook his head. Miss Fisher sat down in the grass, then she sent me to find Cec and Bert and asked them to take the girls home. The constables wouldn't let Miss Fisher wash the blood off so we sat and waited for you to arrive."
"Thank you, Miss Williams," Hugh said before leaning in, "I'll come by later tonight, Dotty. Please drive carefully, Miss Fisher." Hugh gave Dot's cheek a quick kiss before going to Jack to inform him that he had taken their statements.